Because I Already Knew
by Raine Ito
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione and the Gang return to school for their 5th year, to encounter new friends and romances, while Harry picks up the pieces of his past, and meets the person who helped kill his parents...only to find that she's not what he imagined.
1. The Original Dilemna

"Harry! So good to see you, dear!" Mrs. Weasley bustled along out of the house and enfolded Harry in a motherly hug. Harry's face was rather red when she let go, and he tried to turn away, but Fred and George were grinning as they ran out of the house towards him, followed by Ron and Ginny. "Harry, so good to see you again, it's been so long!" George-or maybe Fred, he wasn't sure-shook his hand vigorously. "Yes, almost forgot what you look like, it's been a whole 24 hours," commented the other Weasley twin as he took Harry's other hand and began shaking it. Ron ran up grinning too. Harry loved it here. He felt so, well, liked and welcome. It was nothing like Privet Drive and the Dursleys.

He'd come the day before when Ron, Fred, and George had come to the house to get him. It was one of the last few days of summer, and he'd had quite enough of his aunt and uncle, and grossly fat and stupid cousin Dudley. They hadn't tried anything sneaky this year; Ron and his brothers had simply come up to the door, stood in the doorway holding their wands menacingly, and said they were taking Harry if they had to blow up the house in the process. Hearing this, Uncle Vernon had been all too happy to let him go. It had been surprisingly easy, and the drive back with the Weasleys had been quite enjoyable. He and Ron had stopped off at Diagon Alley, and then met the others back at the house. 

"Come on, come on, give the poor boy some room to breathe," said Mr. Weasley, rushing out of the house and contradicting himself by running right up to Harry and beaming at him. "Come, come, I want to show you something!" He panted. Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Arthur, don't you think he should eat first? It's been a long ride." "Molly, really. It'll only take a moment, and-!" "He's eating NOW Arthur," she said in a loud voice, and Mr. Weasley cringed. "Alright, Molly dear, Alright. Go on, Harry," he said. Harry was too respectful and, frankly, frightened of Mrs. Weasley to mention that he wasn't hungry.

After eating a meal of several baloney sandwiches with the boys and Ginny, Mr. Weasley led him into a room in the back of the house, which was rather darkened. Ron rolled his eyes. "Dad's gonna show you his new muggle thing," he whispered. "Hope you can understand it. Otherwise he'll probably be tinkering with it for the next 48 hours straight." Mr. Weasley didn't hear him, because he was too intent on a black object sitting on a table in the corner, illuminated by a small table lamp. "Why that's a-!" Harry began, but Mr. Weasley interrupted him. "Yes, it's really wonderful isn't it? Don't know how these muggles think up these things…ah…yes, that's why I wanted to show you, isn't it?"

It was a rather large and fancy radio, with two cassette decks and a compact disk player built in. It was the kind of thing Dudley might break on his birthday, and Harry had seen many very similar to it. He looked up at Mr. Weasley, confused. "How did you get it?" The man looked nervous. "Well, I…" "Mmf Morghm Mmmmfh Mrggfm," said Fred, walking in at that moment with his mouth full of baloney sandwich. Harry and Mr. Weasley stared blankly at him. He quickly swallowed and said, much more clearly, "Dade stole it from the Ministry of Magic." Mr. Weasley's face went red. "Ah, no, no I didn't," he said quickly. "I found it in a wizard household and…ah, borrowed it to examine for myself." Fred winked at Harry. They both knew Mr. Weasley's obsession with muggle items. "Anyway," he continued, looking at Harry, "I figured you might be able to, ah, show me how it works?" So Harry did. And later, wished fervently that he hadn't. For the rest of the day, the worst music, it seemed that could be found was played blasting all over the house. Mrs. Weasley was very frazzled by the whole thing. 

But that didn't stop Harry from enjoying himself immensely while staying with the Weasleys. He and Ron took turns flying around on his broomstick and throwing Arthur Weasley's enchanted tennis ball up in to the air, pretending it was the snitch, or the quaffle, or a bludger, depending on the circumstance. Fred and George got their own brooms and joined halfway, and before they knew it, it had become a real airborne almost-quidditch game. By the time it was over, everyone was exhausted and hot and sweaty, and quite ready to go inside, eat, and go to bed. 

But as they entered, they saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley bent concernedly over the muggle radio, looking very worried. "Mum, what's wrong?" Asked Ron, confused. Mrs. Weasley turned. "Oh, Ron, dear, come over and listen to this!" They all crowded and squished around the radio. It was saying:

"-And so, because of all the construction and predicted bad weather, Kings Cross station will be closed all next week. Hope nobody had any very important things to attend to...hehe…" Harry had stopped listening. His face had gone white, as were everyone's around him. "The…H-Hogwarts express…" he stammered bleakly. "How…?" "Well I'm sure Dumbledore will know," said Ron knowledgeably. "He knows everything. And he'll come up with some way…maybe he'll even postpone school opening, that'd be fun." But Ron didn't look very convinced, and Hogwarts was a long way away in distance…but a very short period of time away…

************

For the next few days, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Harry kept expecting an owl to come bearing tidings of what would need to be done about Hogwarts. But none came. After a while, Harry thought about sending his own owl, Hedwig, to Dumbledore, but realized he didn't know if Dumbledore would be at the school yet. Just when they were starting to get really worried, a wet bedraggled owl came in through the rainstorm outside, and flopped gracelessly onto the bed. Harry dried it off and offered it some food while Ron accepted the letter it was carrying excitedly. It read:

I_Dear Mr. H. Potter and Mr. R. Weasley,_

_As you may or may not know, Kings Cross station has been temporarily closed. As I'm afraid, for circumstances you will hear of later, that I would much prefer to have you at school at this time, I cannot postpone the opening. Therefore, I am intrusting you with a very difficult spell.I think you 5th years should be able to pull it off, though separate transportation of the magical sort will have to be set up for the younger children. You'll find the instructions when you finish reading this letter.   
Good luck, and don't try anything foolish, boys. No flying muggle vehicles. I've got my eye on you, Potter and Weasley. Sincerely, Professor Minerva McGonagall/I_

_ _

As Ron and Harry finished the letter, the flowery gold writing in which Professor McGonagall had written disappeared, revealing some simple black text, appearing to be type written, although Harry knew better, took it's place. It explained how exactly to do the spell, and was accompanied by a demonstrative photograph of Dumbledore himself doing it. Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then sat down together on the bed to look it over. They stayed there for two whole hours, practicing without their wands, waving their hands in the air, and yelling, "Teleportus Incantatum!" loudly. 

After a long while of practice, they ran downstairs to tell the others, only to find that Fred, George, and Ginny had beaten them to it. "Look's like everyone's going to teleport!" said Ginny excitedly, when Ron and Harry arrived. "I can't believe it, this is going to be so much FUN!" George and Fred weren't all that impressed, they'd done it before, though they preferred riding the Hogwarts express with the others, because it was simply more fun, and they usually got to buy a few chocolate frogs along the way. Ron, however, just looked nervous. 

"You know," he said to Harry, back up in the room they shared, "A lot of weird stuff happens when you teleport somewhere. I've heard of people whose arms and legs have gotten left behind, and people who've come out in horrible places to get stuck in, like in the bottom compartment of a clothes dresser! Or some people never come back or get found at all!" "Why are you telling me this?" Asked Harry, a bit irritably. "Well, I…just thought you should know," replied Ron. "I mean, before we decide to take this risk." Harry stared at Ron. "You mean…you think you might not go???" Ron looked glum. "Not really," he admitted, "But I like to think I have a choice in it."

They went to bed that night feeling slightly worried, but very excited. Tomorrow, they'd be teleporting to school to start the new term…and wouldn't that be a great thing to show the teachers. They'd manage it, Harry knew they would. How couldn't they? They'd been studying magic somewhat like this for 4 years already. It couldn't be that hard, really. Still, something nagged at the back of Harry's mind, that wouldn't let him go. He put it down to having something to do with Ron's horror stories, and slept, rather nervously, on it. 

************

The house was in a nervous chaotic furor the next morning, with everyone running around doing last minute packing, and a bit of unpacking, to make their suitcases as light as possible, without losing the essentials. When everyone was finally ready, they all assembled in the small backyard. Mrs. Weasley kissed Fred and George, yelled at them to stay out of trouble, and watched them wave their wands in a circle around them, and shout, "TELEPORTUS INCANTATUM: HOGWARTS!" A moment later, they simply weren't there anymore. Harry caught himself looking quickly around for any missing Weasley limbs, but they seemed to have gotten, quite wholly successfully, out. 

Next, It was Ginny's turn. She was fuming a bit, because Mr. Weasley had insisted on coming with her, to make sure she'd be all right, because she was too young. After they had disappeared, it was Ron's turn, and after Ron, Mrs. Weasley beckoned Harry forward. "Come on, dear, let's hurry now." She watched as he stood where the others had, and waved his wand, closing his eyes and picturing Hogwarts in his mind. "T-TELEPORTUS INCANTATUM: HOGWARTS," he shouted, and suddenly felt himself disappear.

It was a very odd sensation, him actually feeling himself disappear. One moment he had the senses of touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight, and then, the next moment, he simply didn't anymore. Disturbed, he tried to cry out, but couldn't hear himself, or even move his lips, because he had none. This lasted for a long time, but just when Harry was starting to get seriously worried that he'd done something horribly wrong, and was going to be non-existent forever, every sense and feeling came back in a sudden jerk, and he collapsed to the ground in surprise.

Standing up and looking around, he expected to see the Hogwarts hallways and classrooms all around him. Instead, to his further surprise, all he saw was a small and strangely familiar muggle house, sitting on a hill. It was very dark out except for a few stars, but he could still make out the outlines of people standing near the window and talking in hushed, excited tones. He didn't think he'd ever seen this place before, yet it stood vividly in his mind. "Déjà vu?" he wondered to himself, getting closer as curiosity built up inside of him. Just as he approached the window, he heard someone coming, and ducked down.

What he saw from his vantage point was a cloaked and indistinguishable figure approaching the door. He peered at the figure, trying hard to get a closer look, and accidentally snapped a twig with his foot. Jerking back just in time, he saw the figure turn his head…and stare out of the most horrible face Harry had ever seen…simply because he knew it so well. Shocked, Harry stood stock-still, mortally afraid now that he would attract the attention of Lord Voldemort. But even as he thought his, he realized that Voldemort was going into this house, doubtless for some absolutely horrible crime. Harry couldn't just sit by and watch, he had to do something. He tapped on the window, but no one responded. Then, seeing the dark lord enter the house, he stood carefully, and followed him in.

As he walked down the hall, following Voldemort's footsteps, he continued to have the sensation that he knew this place very well. It increased, as he got closer to the room. Stepping inside the doorway, he suddenly knew why, and almost fainted with yet another shock.His mother and father stood, almost facing him, staring at Voldemort. It was undoubtedly them, he'd seen them in the Mirror of Erised his first year, seen them in the photo album Hagrid had given him. He knew their faces as well as he knew Ron's, Hermione's, or his own. It was impossible that they were here…and then Harry knew. Somehow, some unbelievable way, he'd gotten back to the day where Voldemort had killed his parents. 

Turning quickly at another sound, Harry saw another man, one he didn't recognize, come in behind Voldemort. He blinked. Who was this? Some accomplice of Voldemort's that Harry had never seen? He was a short stocky man, and his face was unfamiliar, framed by dark brown curly hair. Then Harry had to turn back again, had to watch in horror as Voldemort approached his parents, waving his wand and smiling as James Potter toppled to the ground. Lily ran from the room into another, the dark lord and the other man on her heels. Harry followed reluctantly, not wanting to see it, somehow unable to control his own actions. His mother held a baby with Harry's own green eyes and dark hair, who Harry knew, of course, to be himself. He watched as his mother was struck down through the tears coursing down his cheek, screaming out loud, and then a blinding green light surrounding everything, and a burning pain in his scar made him scream. Through a dim haze, he saw the other man laughing heartily as Voldemort bore down on baby Harry. Then, everything went black. "NOOO!" He heard himself screaming as he faded. "NOOO!"


	2. Ariel

When Harry awoke, he was lying in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, with several concerned pairs of eyes hovering all around

When Harry awoke, he was lying in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, with several concerned pairs of eyes hovering all around. He moaned, and rolled off the bed onto the floor. "Harry!" Hermione cried, rushing over to him. "Are you alright??" He stood up slowly. "Yeah…I think so," he said, still not quite sure what was happening. "How'd I…get here? I had a horrible nightmare…" Ron frowned. "You must've had some real trouble, Harry," he said. "We found you passed out in a potions cauldron in one of the dungeons. Snape was furious, tried to get you expelled again. Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes, and Ron grinned. Hermione looked stern. 

"Really Harry, you must be more careful! Imagine what would've happened if you hadn't teleported to Hogwarts, but had ended up somewhere else instead! It would have been disastrous!" Harry had a vague feeling at the back of his mind that Hermione's words had triggered. Where had he been? All he remembered was the green light…he shook his head to clear it. "Really, Hermione, I'm fine. I must have just been exhausted from staying up late doing summer homework, and was a little careless with the spell. It's really fine, don't nag." Hermione didn't look convinced.

At that moment, the doors to the hospital wing burst open, and Fred, George, and Ginny ran in, followed, more sedately, by Professor Dumbledore. "Harry!" "Where've you been??" "What happened?" "Where did you end up? Anywhere you aren't supposed to be? Tell us about it?" "Quiet, quiet, please," said Dumbledore, approaching Harry. "Mr. Potter, please come to my office." Hermione looked worried, and Ron bit his lip and gave Harry a thumbs-up. Then Harry, still confused, followed Dumbledore to his office.

When they reached it, passing the living stone gargoyle, Dumbledore sat Harry down and frowned at him. "Harry, I'm not sure what happened, and I know," he said, before Harry could protest, "That you didn't do it on purpose. But please, Harry, tell me why you ended up in Professor Snape's new gold cauldron." He waited. Harry blinked. "I…don't know, sir." He thought hard. "All I remember…is a lot of green light…I don't know where I was…I think maybe I just messed up the spell and teleported to the wrong part of Hogwarts. Really Sir, I can't remember." Dumbledore watched him for a long time. "Alright Harry," he said resignedly after a while, "You may go now."

************

The next day, while Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking to "Care of Magical Creatures" class, they heard a commotion and loud voices around the corner. "Sounds like Malfoy," Ron said, recognizing the sleazy drawl that was easily distinguishable as the voice of their archenemy. "Oh no, Ron, please, not now! We can't be late, not on the first day of school!" Hermione was distraught, but Harry and Ron had already rushed around the bend to see what was going on, and she followed resignedly, unwilling to allow them to get into all sorts of trouble on their own.

What they saw was skinny, blond Draco Malfoy, laughing raucously at a dark haired girl in 5th year robes like their own, who seemed to have dropped her books, and was collecting them up again, her face bright red. Malfoy swooped down and grabbed a book, waving it in her face and saying something menacingly that Harry couldn't hear. He could see that it was her "History of evil," textbook, for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but that didn't really matter to him. All that he really cared about was that Draco had made a new enemy, and any enemy of Malfoy's was a friend to Harry. He stepped forward to where Malfoy could see him, and cleared his throat.

Malfoy looked up, and grinned at Harry. "Oh, it's Potter the blunderer. Hear you messed up that simple little teleportation spell, eh Potter?" He said, grinning. Harry stepped menacingly forward. "Could've happened to anyone, Malfoy," said Ron. "Give her back her book!" said Hermione; clearly slightly shocked that Malfoy should try to steal a textbook. "She'll need that for class!" "Give it here, Malfoy," Harry reinforced. "Like to try and make me?" He said, still smiling. Harry and his friends would have been quite willing, if Professor McGonagall hadn't appeared just then.

"Potter, Weasley, Malfoy! What is this nonsense going on here?" Hermione spoke up. "Professor, Malfoy's got that girl's book!" Malfoy dropped it behind him and slunk off. Professor McGonagall shook her head in exasperation. "Potter, Miss. Granger, Weasley, and you…ah…Miss. Polaris, get off to class now, no more dawdling in the halls, or I'll have to take points from Gryffindor! Go on, go!"They went. The girl whose book they'd rescued went with them, smiling with relief. "Thanks," she whispered, looking over her shoulder to see if McGonagall was gone. "That Malfoy's a real creep."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "He does stuff like that all the time. It's not real hard to make him stop, though. He likes to pick on weaker kids. You gotta stand up to him. By the way, what's your name and house? I haven't seen you around before." The girl looked at her feet, for a reason none of them could understand. "Ariel Polaris, 5th year Gryffindor," she said. They blinked. "5th year Gryffindor? But, we're 5th year Gryffindors, and you certainly weren't in our house last year," said Hermione, puzzled. Ariel nodded. "I'm a transfer from Beauxbatons School this year. My parents used to go here, but then we went to France for a while, so I had to go to a different school. I got sorted yesterday morning…so I'm in Gryffindor with you guys." She sounded so upset about it that Ron couldn't help taking a bit of umbrage. "What's wrong with Gryffindor?" He asked loudly. Ariel looked up. "Oh, nothing, nothing of course!" she said quickly. "Really! It's just…all my family…for generations…has been in, well, Slytherin."

There was a long pause. A whole family full of Slytherin, and she ends up in Gryffindor, he thought blankly. It was quite odd. Slytherin was famous for turning out dark wizards and followers of Voldemort. Of course, they weren't all like that, but…Gryffindor didn't really seem the place for snake spawn. Of course, the sorting hat knew what it was doing. Hermione spoke up at that point. "Really, is that all? That's nothing to worry about! You were sorted into Gryffindor because that's where you belong, and that's all there is to it. It's really nothing to get upset about." Ariel gave Hermione such a grateful smile that Hermione had to smile warmly back. "Really. And I'm sure you'll be great and help us win the house cup again!" Harry and Ron nodded. "It's true," Harry said, squeezing her hand.

They went to Care of Magical Creatures together, taught by the gamekeeper, Hagrid, who winked cheerily at them. "Alright, Harry? Ron? Hermione? Who's your new friend?" When they introduced her, Hagrid raised an eyebrow. "Polaris, eh? Knew your father and mother." Ariel's face fell, but Hagrid grinned. "Wos wrong? Yer carrying on the tradition of Hogwarts, nothing wrong with that!" He didn't say anything about Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Ariel began to feel a bit better. By the end of the class, she looked much happier than she had when they'd found her with Draco, and was amusing them all with tales of Beauxbatons on the way back to the common room. Ginny Weasley was sitting with her nose in a Transfiguration textbook, and looked up as they came in. "Oh Hermione, I can't figure out how to turn Fred and George into twin armchairs, and I need to turn them into something before they get into any more trouble!" She lowered her voice.

"They've found some sort of book from the restricted section that some teacher left lying around and they're trying all sorts of things in it. I'm afraid they'll blow themselves up, or worse, experiment on me with it; please go see if they're still all right. I can't really figure out if I want something horrible to happen to them or not." Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ariel agreeably went over to where George and Fred were sitting hunched over a book. Looking over their shoulder, they saw the title "Potions of Possession" imprinted in flashing green and silver writing on the front. 

Ron tapped Fred on the shoulder. "Oi, George, what've you got there?" He whirled around towards Ron, and Ron shrieked in terror. Fred's face was all bloated and contorted, and had turned a very putrid shade of green. In fact, Harry realized it looked nothing at all like Fred's face at all, anymore. Laughing, Fred removed the horribly ugly mask and grinned impishly at Ron. "Why I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Ron stared. "Ah, no, no, of course not, knew it was you all along, just playing along, right Harry?" Harry laughed nervously. "You certainly scared me," he said, and turned to look for Hermione, but she wasn't behind him anymore. 

Hermione and Ariel had taken the book while Fred and George were preoccupied, and were now leafing through it, riveted. "Why, these are some of the most dangerous potions there are!" Hermione proclaimed, astonished. "You just found this book lying around?" George shrugged, making a grab for the book. "Possessions, Permanent Paralysis, Evil diseases," Ariel read. She looked up. "This is really awful stuff. You aren't gonna try any of this, are you?" Fred shrugged. "No, 'course not." "Though," George said thoughtfully, "It might be fun to see what it would do to "perfect Percy." Even Ron had to smile at that.

************

The next morning, Harry had to get up bright and early for some quidditch practice. He got dressed and washed, grabbed his Firebolt, and headed down, only to bump into Ariel on his way to the common room. "Oh, sorry Harry," she said, yawning. "Just got up early to finish some homework I'd fallen asleep in the middle of last night. Oh, are you going to play quidditch? Can I watch?" Harry didn't mind, so she accompanied him down to the playing field, where George and Fred Weasley, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet were already waiting. The new captain of the team and Keeper was a 6th year named Dalton who was no nonsense, down to business, and to the point. "We're going to win this year," he said simply. "Get on your brooms and get warmed up."

As Harry zoomed around doing loop de loops and zigzags, he looked over into the stands, and saw Ariel watching him, with a tint of envy on her face. He was used to that, most people wished they could be on a quidditch team and be star seeker, like Harry. But there was something else in her face, something about her eyes, as she looked right at him, something he knew he recognized. It had to do with the green light in his dreams, he knew…but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. 

When quidditch practice was over, he beckoned Ariel out onto the playing field. He'd seen how she'd been looking at his broom, and asked, "Do you want to try it out?" He wasn't sure what prompted him to offer so quickly and easily, but he really wanted her to go for a ride on it. "Really?" She was amazed, running her hand over the smooth handle of the Firebolt in amazement."You'd really let me do that?" He shrugged. "Sure."

Before he knew what was happening, Ariel was high in the air on the Firebolt, laughing with delight, and diving down towards him. He ducked out of the way, thinking she was going to crash, but she swerved back up again just in time, still laughing. Scared for a moment, he grinned, and called her back down. "That was really good," he said as she landed and clambered off, breathless and rosy cheeked. "Thanks," she said, smiling.

"It's a great broom. I don't know much about brooms, but that's the fastest I've ever been on. It was lots of fun."

"You should play quidditch," he commented, as they walked to the common room. "There'll be plenty of spots available on the team next year, when George and Fred and everyone are gone." She sighed. "I'd love to, but I don't have a broom…I've used my cousin's broom often enough, that's how I know how to fly. But still, there's no way I could get one of my own to play with." Harry looked confused. "Surely, if you got onto the team, you could convince your parents to get you one? They're wizards, right? So they'd understand."

"No…that's just it…they are wizards, but…they'd never let me play quidditch for Gryffindor." She dropped her eyes to the ground. "They were so disappointed in me when they found out. They sent me a cursed letter that made it so I'm not able to fall asleep, ever. I suppose that's a good thing, in a way…I can't doze off in class now…" She looked very unhappy. Harry cringed, and put an arm around her awkwardly. "Don't worry. My family wouldn't get me a broom either; I got one from the school so that Gryffindor could have a seeker. If you're good enough, I'm sure they'd do the same for you."

Ariel looked startled. "Your family wouldn't get you a broom? But…you're the best player Hogwarts has had, in a long time! Weren't they proud of you?" Harry snorted. "The Dursleys would only be proud of me if I'd managed to get myself lost somewhere and expelled at the same time. They hate me." "But surely they don't!" "Oh yes they do." He grinned, so that she wouldn't look so distraught. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind all that much."

When they reached the common room, Shamus Finnegan clomped Harry on the back. "How's quidditch going, Harry? Gonna win again this year?" "Of course we are," said Ron, descending the stairs. "How could we lose with Harry Potter on our team? Morning Harry, Ariel." Hermione and Ginny, yawning, came down behind him. "Come on," said Hermione peremptorily, "We're going to be late for breakfast!" "Hermione," said Ron, frustrated, "breakfast isn't for another 15 minutes! We aren't going to be late!" Harry shook his head at his friends. "C'mon, Ron, I'm hungry too. Let's go."

__


End file.
